The Formation of Modern China (1600-1949)

It is a work of modern and contemporary Chinese history with a grand vision and new insights. Where did today's China come from? This book focuses on the three key factors of geopolitics, fiscal structure and political identity, comprehensively discusses the formation process of modern China from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and explores the unique path of the formation of modern China from the perspective of world history.

It was unanimously recommended by Zhong Weimin, Zhao Shiyu, Chen Feng, Wu Chongqing and Li Lifeng. Produced by University Ask.

【brief introduction】

Where did today's China come from? How can modern China avoid the fate of multi-ethnic empire collapse and fragmentation, and build a highly effective and long-term stable state? What is the historical rationality and uniqueness of its territorial composition, ethnic groups and political regime? Can the future Chinese state continue to maintain the pattern of "both big and strong"? This book convincingly answers these challenging questions.

This book is a work of modern and contemporary Chinese history with a grand vision and new insights emerging one after another. The whole book mainly focuses on the re-understanding of the formation process of modern China and the problems in the historical writing of modern Chinese history. From the perspective of global history, the author focuses on the three elements of geopolitics, finance and military affairs, and political identity, comprehensively discusses the formation process of modern China from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and explores the unique path of the formation of modern China from the perspective of world history. The whole book has a broad vision, rich content and unique insights. For researchers and ordinary readers who are trying to understand the past and future of modern China, it is a wonderful work that should not be missed.

【Book Highlights】

1. The new work of Li Huaiyin, a well-known scholar in modern Chinese history, book No. 005 of "University Questions Practical Social Science Series" edited by "Super Professor" Huang Zongzhi;

2. Unanimously recommended by Zhong Weimin, Zhao Shiyu, Chen Feng, Wu Chongqing, and Li Lifeng, and highlighted by "Journal of Asian Studies" and "Twentieth Century China";

3. New insights emerge one after another. This book's research on geopolitics, ethnic relations, and traditional governance that influenced the formation of modern China, its analysis of East Asian traditional order and the theory of modern sovereign states, and its reflections on Eurocentrism and narrative methods of revolution and modernization are all unique. opinion;

4. New research methods. Adopting the research path of "macro history", trying to get rid of the quagmire of the emptiness of the grand historical narrative and the fragmentation of the daily historical narrative from a comprehensive perspective, sublimating many micro researches into macro considerations, and establishing a new analytical structure;

5. Grand vision. Starting from the perspective of global history, this book puts the national transformation of modern China in the perspective of modern world history to understand and observe, based on a deep understanding of Chinese history, it convincingly explains the formation of a modern Chinese sovereign state unique;

6. Long time span. It makes a comprehensive discussion of the formation process of modern China from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, breaking the barriers between ancient and modern, modern and modern that are used to by Chinese historians at home and abroad, and presenting the history of China's national transformation that has lasted for several centuries As a complete process with both different links and a continuous connection;

7. Strong practical concern. Standing at the height of global geopolitics in the new millennium, re-discover the most challenging issues in the understanding of today's Chinese history, and think about the deep issues of contemporary China's national development and transformation;

8. Rich historical materials. Making full use of a large number of original archives, private memories and official publications, the arguments in the book are supported by solid historical documents and data charts.

【Recommended by famous experts】

From the perspective of global history, based on a deep understanding of Chinese history, this book convincingly explains the uniqueness of the formation of China's modern sovereign state: China is the only one built on the foundation of the previous dynasty (empire) and successfully transformed For modern countries, the long time of transformation and the complexity and arduous process of transformation are also unprecedented in the world. Understanding this is the key to understanding contemporary China. This book's research on many issues such as geopolitics, ethnic relations, and traditional governance, the analysis of East Asian traditional order and the theory of modern sovereign states, and the reflection on Eurocentrism and narrative methods of revolution and modernization are all new and rarely seen in recent years. masterpiece.

——Zhong Weimin, Professor of History Department, Tsinghua University

The importance of this book lies first in the author’s effort to go beyond previous narratives dominated by revolution and modernization to reframe the history of China’s transition to a modern sovereign state; secondly, in the author’s analytical framework of three elements: geostrategy, fiscal structure, and political identity , to explain the occurrence of this transformation process. The reason why these three elements are important is that in recent years, multidisciplinary scholars have made great progress in regional and cross-regional studies including frontier ethnic studies, Ming and Qing financial history studies, and political and cultural identity studies, so many microcosmic Research is sublimated into macro considerations like this book.

——Zhao Shiyu, Professor of Department of History, Peking University

Discussing "the formation of modern China" is not only the responsibility of historians, but also the concern of ordinary readers. This new book by Professor Li Huaiyin is different from the previous so-called grand historical narrative and "fragmented" detailed research, and establishes a new analytical structure. Although this brand-new analytical structure follows the macro-historical research path, it presents four characteristics: First, it closely revolves around the elements of the formation of a modern state—territory (territory, frontier), population (ethnic group), and government (national governance capacity). Second, key variables such as geostrategy, fiscal structure, and political identity are carefully and appropriately discussed, and the relationship and interaction between these items are investigated; third, breaking the boundaries of social forms, nearly three The century-old Chinese state-society transformation is a complete process of inheritance, transformation and integration; the fourth is to put the state-society transformation of modern China under the perspective of the whole world history to understand and take care of it. The author's theory is not comparable to similar works.

——Chen Feng, Professor of School of History and Chinese Traditional Culture Research Center, Wuhan University

Professor Li Huaiyin has been deeply involved in China's long-term historical reality, perfectly combining the macro-historical perspective with the meso-level analysis of geopolitics, finance, and political identity mechanisms, and abandoning the emptiness of grand historical narratives and the fragmentation of daily historical narratives. Why can China be both big and strong and full of resilience and inertia for development, and why can it surpass the evolution paradigm of "from empire to nation-state". Full of profound historical insights, this book responds sharply and decisively to various discourses that challenge the legitimacy of the modern Chinese state.

——Wu Chongqing, Professor of Philosophy Department of Sun Yat-sen University

Where did today's China come from? How can modern China avoid the fate of multi-ethnic empire collapse and fragmentation, and how can it establish a highly effective and long-term stable party state? What is the historical rationality and uniqueness of its territorial composition, ethnic groups and political regime? Can the future Chinese state continue to maintain the pattern of "both big and strong"? Today, when the "grand narrative" has long been disenchanted and historical research is increasingly "fragmented", Professor Li Huaiyin boldly announced the banner of "macrohistory" (macrohistory), focusing on the three major elements of geopolitics, finance, military affairs, and political identity. It reinterprets the three and a half centuries of Chinese history, tells the story of China's transformation from an ethnic group state to a territorial state and then a sovereign state, and finally formed a highly centralized and unified modern state, convincingly answering the above-mentioned extremely challenging The problem. This book has a broad vision, rich content, large body and unique insights, and it is a wonderful book not to be missed for researchers and ordinary readers who are trying to understand the past and future of modern China.

——Li Lifeng, Professor of School of Government and Xueheng Research Institute, Nanjing University

Li Huaiyin's new book provides a comprehensive account of the state-building process in modern China from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. The author makes full use of original archives, private memories, and official publications to place the formation process of modern China under the framework of fiscal-military perspective and big history, and analyzes the factors such as geopolitical structure, fiscal structure, and political identity that restrict the process of state formation. Pointing out the unique formation path of the Qing state is crucial to understanding the continuity of the territorial and ethnic composition of modern China. The book is fascinating. It not only strongly demonstrates the key role of geopolitical structure, fiscal composition and identity shaping in modern China's national transformation, but also echoes the "Sinocentrism" in the research path, based on China's own experience to understand China's history track. The author convincingly argues that in order to correctly understand the process of state formation in modern China, one must get rid of the various biases and speculations caused by political and ideological factors in the study of modern Chinese history, and explore China's history from the perspective of world history. unique path.

——The Journal of Asian Studies ("Asian Studies Journal")

Among historians, Li Huaiyin's recent work represents a breakthrough in analytical framework. On the basis of rich empirical research, the author examines how countries mobilize financial resources to support wars and consolidate political power. Through the comparison between China and early modern Europe, this book highlights the bottom-up state formation process in the early Republic of China. The author's insightful analysis of the fiscal basis for state fragmentation and unification during the warlord era gives credence to the belief that historical sociological theories of state building can indeed be applied to twentieth-century China. The author's analysis of the Nanjing regime and the Communist revolution reveals the different paths the country took towards unity and centralization.

——Twentieth Century China ("Twentieth Century China")